


The Diplomat's Daughter

by SB_Ryan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: X-wing Series - Aaron Allston & Michael Stackpole
Genre: Camp Nanowrimo, F/M, Snark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-22
Updated: 2016-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 05:01:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 19,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3106994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SB_Ryan/pseuds/SB_Ryan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rina Hambly, short order cook for the Rebellion and die hard introvert, is caught up in the Imperial attack on Folor Base and swept up with the evacuating Wraith Squadron. </p><p>With her less than honest father trying to arrange her marriage, and her famous cousin trying to find her a friend; Rina has to race against time, her family, and the Empire to try and keep her career and her sanity intact. </p><p>Her impossible situation is made worse when a pair of bickering pilots decide to take her under their wing to 'fix' her in between raids from a stolen ship. </p><p>Staying inside suddenly seems so much more enticing!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A wee thing that popped into my head for 2014's Camp NaNoWriMo.  
> This takes place during the middle arc of the X-Wing series and everything recognisable belongs to their respective authors. 
> 
> Only Rina and her trials belong to me. 
> 
> :)

** Dramatis Personae  **

** The Noncoms  **

Rina Hambly, chef - human female from Contruum

Caden Hambly, diplomat/hustler - human male from Contruum

Ro'tahn "Jettison" Fyr, chef - Twi'lek male from Ryloth

Jacinto "Jayce" Bastra, kitchen porter - human male from Coruscant

Amaya Sunrider, kitchen porter - human female from Tatooine

** The Wraiths  **

Commander Wedge Antilles (Leader, One) - human male from Corellia

Lieutenant Wes Janson (Eleven) - human male from Tanaab

Lieutenant Myn Donos (Nine) - human male from Corellia

Jesmin Ackbar (Two) - Mon Calamari female from Mon Calamari

Hohass "Runt" Ekwesh (Six) - Thakwaash male from Thakwaa

Garik "Face" Loran (Eight) - human male from Pantolomin

Ton Phanan (Seven) - human male from Rudrig

Falynn Sandskimmer (Three) - human female from Tatooine

Voort "Piggy" saBinring (Twelve) - Gamorrean male from Gamorr

Tyria Sarkin (Ten) - human female from Toprawa

Kell Tainer (Five) - human male from Sluis Van

Eurrsk "Grinder" Thri'ag (Four) - Bothan male from Bothawui

** Squadron Support Personnel  **

Cubber Daine, mechanic - human male from Corellia

Chunky (Tyria's R5 unit) Gadget (Phanan's R2 unit)

R2-D69 "Thirteen" (Kell's R2 unit)

R5-G8 "Gate" (Wedge's R5 unit)

Shiner (Myn's R2 unit)

Squeaky, quartermaster (3PO unit)

Vape (Face's R2 unit)

** New Republic Military  **

General Edor Crespin - human male from Corulag

Chaptain Choday Hrakness - human male from Agamar

Lieutenant Atril Tabanne - human female from Coruscant

Dorset Konnair - human female from Coruscant

Tetengo Noor - human male from Churba

Pash Cracken - human male from Contruum

Airen Cracken - human male from Contruum

** Zsinj's Forces  **

Warlord Zsinj - human male from Fondor

Admiral Apwar Trigit - human male from Coruscant

Captain Zurel Darillian - human male from Coruscant

Lieutenant Gara Petothel - human female from Coruscant

 

** 2am - Quarters of the Contruum Delegation, Nar Shaddaa **

"There!" Fingers flew across the keyboard as the finishing touches were added to the submission for, "All done and it's only..." tired storm grey eyes looked up at the chrono on the wall and the figure at the desk groaned, "two hours before I have to get up." With a few more taps, the essay entitled 'The Role Droids Play in Society' was attached to the academy application and was sent out into the aether of the holonet. Rina Hambly, part-time short order cook and keeper of many secrets, slumped forward onto the hard surface of her desk and closed her gritty-feeling eyes. As she drifted into sleep, she hoped Daddy wouldn't be cross that she'd applied to join the military like her cousin and her uncle Airen. She was only following in her Mother's footsteps really; although the fact that mam has been involved in the conflict between the remnants of the Empire and the Rebels was relatively new information. Life as a less-than-scrupulous diplomat's daughter hasn't always been easy, or as comfortable as it was for the moment. Rina was sure that she'd be exiled back home to Contruum when she'd put her foot down last year and got herself this honest job as a chef. Mind you, that had a high cost of its own; one that was still causing trouble for her even now. Still; she smiled as sleep finally claimed her - sure that her mother would have been proud of her.

**2:30am - Club Temptation, Nar Shaddaa**

Caden Hambly was starting to sweat. He'd always had a weakness for a good high-stakes sabaac game and suddenly his winning streak had deserted him completely.

His 'sure thing' was beginning to seem anything but and as the pile of credits in front of him dwindled, Caden realised he was in a hole that even his daughter's meagre earnings wouldn't be able to get him out of.

The green-skinned twi'lek in front of him grinned in a wholly disturbing way as they called the final hand. Hambly's hand was worthless. He knew it. They knew it.As he flung the cards down onto the table, he idly wondered if even Rina back at their quarters knew it.

' _Probably_.' Caden thought as the last of his credits and IOUs were scooped up by the suspiciously masterful players he suspected worked for Club Temptation to lure in innocents and fleece them of all of their hard-earned money!

If he was being truthful; he'd have to admit that nothing about his finances could be classified as 'hard-earned' - most of the time they could barely be called honest either. "So then, same time tomorrow?" The greying human smiled and hoped it looked less than a rictus than it felt at that moment. "Give a fellow the chance to win back some of his losses yes?"

Hambly's hopes were dashed when he felt the heavy hand of one of the club's bouncers drop onto his shoulder, _'So much for diplomatic immunity then_.'

"I'm good for it I swear - I can have the money for you by the end of the week."

"See that you do. I would hate for anything to happen to that lovely daughter of yours." the twi'lek bared his teeth in a clearly threatening way. Hambly swallowed and hurried home - it was high time that he visited his brother-in-law; Rina would be glad to see her cousin after all.

As he mentally planned for the quickest way off this cursed moon, Caden didn't spare a thought for the consequences of blowing off what was likely a hutt-run gang. After all; if he wasn't on Nar Shaddaa when they came to collect; what was the worst that could happen?


	2. DownTime

So, you're not even working behind the bar then?"  
Rina shook her head miserably, knowing he'd be disappointed with her answer. "I'm quite happy in the little kitchen thank you."  
Pash leaned forward on his elbows and mock-glared at her, "well that's not really good enough is it? Dena would have a fit at the thought of our little Ree not having _any_  fun at all."  
He cut her off before she could protest, "I have a deal for you cuz," Pash grinned, looking far too smug for Rina's comfort, "I want you to have made 1 friend, that isn't that bloody droid you work for, by the time I see you next."  
Rina narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, there was always a catch to her cousin's challenges.  
"If you fail in your mission though, there is a penalty." Pash wagged a teasing finger and flicked the end of her freckled nose, "if you don't have a someone to come out drinking with us; I'm going to have to out you as Cracken's niece to everyone."  
Rina paled, making her freckles stand out in stark relief, "Nononono!" She shook her head furiously, feeling faint at the thought of not having her shield of anonymity to hide behind.  
"Oh yes!" Pash took a sip of his drink, "Then you'll have lots of friends thanks to being famous by proxy." He ran a hand through his dark red hair, "Although I'm surprised no one's guessed already when we've been able to catch up. After all, there is a definite family resemblance."  
Rina fiddled with the end of her own ponytail which shared a slightly more toned down similarity to her favourite cousin's.  
She glanced up at the chrono on her wrist, "I'm sorry cuz, I have to start my shift in 15 minutes and Sqeaky is a devil if I'm not on time now that my additions to the menu are proving so popular."  
Pash smiled at his nervous little cousin, "So we have you to thank for actual edible food now? We were taking bets on whether it really was Squeaky's idea, or if it was a morale booster from the cooks in the mess."  
As the short young woman stood to leave, Pash gripped her arm gently, "Hey cuz, just to let you know, Commander Antilles is recruiting for something, so there's likely to be a lot of strangers around here over the next few weeks." He whispered, "Just thought I would give you a heads up. There's challenging you to get out of your comfort zone; and then there's being evil."  
Rina shut her eyes briefly, "Thanks Pash, I'm sure Squeaky won't mind if I do some overtime back in my cave."

\---000---

Club Temptation - Nar Shaddaa

Ro'tahn Fyr, Club Temptation's best sabaac player and card sharp, was not looking forward to what lay beyond the door in front of him. He and a few of his bruisers had just returned from Hambly's quarters after the human had failed to come back with the credits he owed them.

The only things left behind were largely worthless, but Ro would sell them anyway, it'd be a shame to not let someone else's suffering help go to getting him out from under whatever gross equivalent of a thumb Hutts had.

The twi'lek jingled the credits in his pocket nervously, the Boss was never one to receive bad news graciously. He was ushered in to the opulent darkness of the hutt's chamber.

Out of habit he leered at the scantily-clad dancing girls; but his heart wasn't really in it; the fear of being thrown out a top floor window into the endless depths tended to do that to you.

"Ro'tahn Fyr. Where are my credits?"

Ro hesitated before answering the hutt, "Caden Hambly fled before we could get to him Boss. I'll get my best trackers on the case for you and get back to work on the tables to get you some new business." He said with a rush and started to edge toward the door; hoping the hutt would be sufficiently distracted by the nubile young woman wearing very little.

When his back bumped into something so wide, it could only be one of the ever-present Gamorrean guards, Ro's heart sank. The last pit boss who'd failed to show up with the day's earnings had has his lekku torn off by one of them 'as a reminder of his station'.

Ro found himself dragged back to face Votta. The hutt narrowed his reptilian eyes and growled in huttese, "Find Caden Hambly, bring back my money, or you will soon learn to fly."

The twi'lek gulped, nodded and fled as quickly as he could. ' _Sithspit. How in the universe am I going to find one lowlife?'_

Ro shoved his hands back into his pockets and mooched down the stairs to the gaming floor. He tossed a credit chip to the waiter he'd trusted with the bag of crap from Hambly's rooms.

The card dealer turned unwilling bounty hunter slinked back to his own drab apartment in one of the less salubrious districts. Once safely inside and all three door locks were engaged, Ro tipped the contents of the bag onto his unmade bed.

There wasn't a lot to go on; a holo of the latest popular chick flick he assumed belonged to Hambly's daughter, a copy of the Nar Shaddaa spaceport's timetable for the next few months, and the latest issue of Hot Ships.

Ro tossed aside the holo and examined the timetable, hoping Hambly had been foolish enough to circle the flight or some details on the flimsy brochure. Nothing. "Dammit. Why'd he pick now to get smart?" Ro groused as he turned to the holomag, "At least I'll have something to read while I'm waiting to be torn limb from limb."

The twi'lek sighed and flopped face down onto the bed, bouncing _The Star-crossed Love Affaire_ onto the floor. There was a sharp crack and Ro mumbled cuss words into his pillow; he'd been hoping to flog it for a handful of credits. He let one arm dangle over the edge, long fingers searching for the holo. His questing fingers found the smashed case and something that didn't belong there.

"What the-?" Ro lifted his head and saw a scrap of crumpled flimsy poking out of the remains of the holo.

As he read the list of names hurriedly scribbled on one side of what seemed to be a handwritten menu; Ro felt a smile creeping onto his face.

It seemed that 'Caden' was now going by 'Bael'. Now it was only a matter of time before Votta got his money and Ro'tahn got to keep his most precious parts intact.


	3. Try not to faint

To: Ginger-ace  
From: LadyWallflower  
Subject: RE: 'sup cuz?

Wow. Sorry that it's taken a few days to reply, but I had to get Squeaky to take me to the infirmary for shock that you actually wrote to me first! ;)

You weren't kidding when you said there'd be a lot of strange folks about either; I swear your Commander only looks to recruit the odd ones (although that definitely worked in your favour!)

As for the burning question about how my 'mission' is going, I have some really great excuses:

Father called - mine, not yours - we argued again, _but_  I'm not backing down on this one (for once). I'll tell you all about his plan for my future husband when you next call.

Also; it appears that my dark and dismal DownTime hideout has become _the_ place for the new recruits to hang out between training exercises. They've been ordering so much food Squeaky has been in raptures about the balance sheets and even threatened to pay me overtime!

I also wanted to wait a bit longer to make a proper start as I'd hate to go to all that work to come out of my shell to find they'd been washed out (if you let me have that as an excuse, I'd appreciate if cuz.)

As always, stay safe out there.

Love,

Your non-com cousin


	4. Face your fears

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, I only own Rina and any errors, all else belongs to their respective owners :)

Face rapped on the door of the head chef's tiny office, "Garik Loran reporting for tuber duty!"  
He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a groan from inside, moments before the metal door swung open.  
The pilot was forced to take a step back as the grumpy chef stepped out, glaring at him.  
"Nope."  
The scarred pilot was nonplussed for a moment, he knew he'd been given kitchen duties as punishment for one of the many amusing misdemeanours he'd actually been caught for. Commander Antilles had been sure to remind him of it during the roster meeting that morning.  
He still felt a warm glow to know that he was now in one of the legendary Wedge Antilles' fighter units.  
The cook poked him in the chest with a meaty finger, rumpling the pilot's jumpsuit. "I ain't having you back here sending all my girls into a tizzy again. You might be fit to peel tubers according to your boss, but _I_ make the rules down here."  
"But-"  
The cook carried on jabbing Garik and forcing him to retreat through Folor Base's kitchen until they were back out in the tunnel corridor.  
"I get that you're being punished; but so is everyone else when their grub is late or burned cus of starstruck cooks." The squat head chef paused for a moment and then smiled. Face felt a faint prickle of unease; that was not a friendly kind of smile.  
"But I _do_ know somewhere you can go to instead. Somewhere that is always in need of a helping hand." The head chef half-dragged the taller man down a handful of corridors until Face recognised where they were going, "Oh no."

The piebald protocol droid seemed to give Face a flat stare as head chef Cribbens explained the situation. The former actor had to suppress a shudder; he still had vivid memories of the first time he and Ton (now his official wingman); had met this particular tyrant of DownTime.

They had joined the other hopefuls who had finished Jansen's bait and switch mission sim at a long table to one side of the dim tapcaf. He vividly remembered the events of what happened shortly after and shuddered. 

Cribbens jabbed Face in the ribs with his elbow; jarring him out of his horrified reverie. 

Squeaky nodded once, "Very well. Come with me flight officer Loran; I am sure there is something suitable my own chef can find for you to do."  
Face hadn't really even noticed that there was a kitchen hidden behind DownTime's bar.  
As they rounded the corner into what had once been what looked like an abandoned test shaft, Loran was stunned to see an actual person in the jury-rigged kitchen that was little more than a large oven and several racks of shelves.  
She was on the short side of average, Face thought she'd maybe be shoulder-height to him if she stood on tiptoes. Her hair was a warm brown, with reddish highlights and had been ruthlessly pulled back and twisted into a military style bun.  
Squeaky's chef had her back to them and was completely absorbed in her task of inspecting a sack of a root vegetable Face didn't recognise. Her distraction gave him a chance to appreciate his punishment anew.  
She was definitely easier on the eye than Cribbens, at least from behind. He tore his eyes from his own inspection as He realised Squeaky was introducing him.

\---

Rina had heard someone speaking to Squeaky out in the bar, but quickly tuned it out. DownTime wasn't officially open yet, but she knew the off duty men and women of Folor Base liked to claim their usual tables early.  
The news that Commander Antilles had officially named the pilots in his new unit, Grey Squadron according to Folor scuttlebutt, had filled her with a vague dread.  
Having an official end to the shifting masses on base meant that she no longer had an excuse to not start trying to not be such an anxious shut in.  
She sighed, she liked being anti-social now; the idea of mixing with the great unknown terrified her. She hadn't always been quite so neurotic, she mused as she ripped open one of the sacks of supplies. It had been different before her mother had been killed and Rina had had to pick up the pieces of her father.  
After Lyssa had died, there had been no more parties at the Cracken's; no more evenings spent playing by the creek with her cousins Pash and his sister Dena; no more lazy days spent learning how to play the traditional folk songs of home.  
For the longest time; it had just been her and her father, and whatever damn alcohol he could get his hands on. It had cost him his career as a pilot; but Uncle Airen had scooped them up when he defected from the Imperials to the Rebellion.  
Now Daddy was a diplomat of all things, and Rina made her own way as best she could at whichever military base was closest to her father: just to keep an eye on him of course. Not because she knew if he couldn't check on her several times a week, that there'd be hell to pay. Nope. Not a bit.

Rina shook her head to clear her thoughts; she had far too much to do to prep for the evening rush.  
She vaguely registered Squeaky's distinctive metallic footsteps but still flinched when he spoke.  
"Miss Hambly, do you recall requesting aid a while back?"  
Rina rolled her eyes, of course she did. She'd been asking for help with prep for weeks since word got around that DownTime had started serving edible food.  
"Yes Squeaky, I do-" the young woman replied as she turned to face the droid. Whatever she was going to say was lost as she froze.  
Face saw myriad emotions flicker across her increasingly pale face before it settled on one he wasn't used to seeing from his fellow rebels - pure and unadulterated terror.  
The protocol droid continued regardless, either ignoring, or unaware of her reaction. "Well here is flight officer Loran. He is most likely only suitable for menial labour, or retrieving items from high shelves."  
Face wasn't sure if the blasted droid was mocking him or not, but shrugged in what he was sure was a non-threatening way.  
"Please make use of him for the few hours we have him for."  
The droid turned and minced back toward the bar, leaving the incredibly awkward tableau without a second thought.  
' _Nononononononono'_ Rina trembled, ' _stranger in the kitchen. Unsupervised! You have a stranger in your goddamn kitchen Rina!'_  
The irrational urge to flee was quickly quashed by the simple fact she'd have to run past him to get out.  
' _Kriff_!' She swore in her head as she realised she hadn't brought her personal music cube or headphones. She'd gotten complacent, confident that Squeaky would never let anyone else disturb their carefully ordered sanctum of routine. Clearly she was wrong.  
"Are you okay?"  
Rina flinched, whilst she'd been panicking, the intruder had clearly been trying to get her attention for a while. "Sithspit; don't sneak up on a body you wee tinker!" Rina snapped before she thought it through.  
Face couldn't help himself, he laughed.

The tiny woman had seemed so angry and delightfully ruffled and then that adorable curse had come past those rosy lips. She had a definite accent to her Basic, and there was a lilt to it that reminded him a little of Wedge Antilles' own inflection, but it wasn't quite Corellian either.  
She frowned and shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose, clearly stressed.  
"Here." She groped for the bag she'd just opened, "wash and peel these over by the sink." Rina didn't dare open her eyes as his hands covered her own. "Please!"  
She wasn't sure what she was thinking, but Rina jerked away and turned her back on Loran's retreating figure.  
 _'Just get through service and then you can hide in your bunk forever.'_ Rina's hands gradually stopped shaking as she distracted herself with what needed to be done to get the orders scrolling across the datapad's screen out as soon as possible.  
The routine of cooking soothed her enough for Rina to ponder her erstwhile sous-chef. There was something compellingly familiar about him. She knew he was one of the newbies, which ruled him out as one of Pash's friends. He was a pilot, so not one of the other non-combatants she was slightly better at recognising.  
Rina hummed a few bars of one of the folk songs of her home as she twirled a razor-sharp knife easily in nimble fingers. Tonight was the night she was trying out a slightly more adventurous dessert and she decided to thinly slice the spicy fruit topping, rather than grating it as per the recipe.  
She had almost forgotten that she had a helper when he appeared in her peripheral vision carrying the huge pot of tubers.  
Rina yelped and the knife slipped, slicing a deep gash across her right hand palm and fingers.  
Face swore and grabbed the rag that hung from Rina's back pocket, winding it tightly around her hand, "Come on, let's get you to the medbay and get that seen to." His voice was worried, he hadn't really meant to scare her that badly, just ruffle her composure a little bit.

Rina's head swam at the thought of walking through the tapcaf and clear across the base to the infirmary. "Uh uh, I'm fine. I-" she swayed and blinked away grey darting spots in her vision, "It doesn't even hurt yet. I'll go later when it's quiet." She swayed a little and Face wrapped his arms around her shoulders to steady her, the little cuss was genuinely scared.

Force knew how she'd gotten a job with a group of notoriously contrary and rowdy individuals who weren't known for being shy and retiring.  
"Look, you're in need of medical attention." He stared down at her sternly when she started to protest. "I just want you to sit down before you fall down." Face picked her up and sat her on the durasteel countertop. The girl seemed torn between arguing with him or fainting.  
At least she was too angry to be scared any more. Face kept one hand on her shoulder and pulled his commlink out of his jumpsuit's pocket with the other. "I think we are well past the point of being on first name basis. My name is Garik Loran, and you are..."

"Rina."

Face unleashed his trademark smile, the one that had gotten him banned from the main kitchens.  
Rina muttered something inaudibly as Face spoke into his commlink, "Hey Ton, I need you to leave that poor girl alone and bring your medkit to DownTime now. There's a bit of an emergency that requires your unique skills.

Rina was forced to admit that her hand _was_ starting to hurt now that the adrenaline was wearing off. She slumped against Face's support, "I bet this isn't how you imagined your evening going.

Face chuckled and stepped closer, Rina was feeling too dizzy to fret overmuch. "If you like; I can show you a few things that can help with nerves.

Rina blinked up at him, confusion and apprehension in her muddy green eyes.

Face lowered his voice to a whisper, "Believe it or not, I used to suffer from stage fright when I first started acting for the holos.

"Mmm." Rina nodded and didn't shift from her place resting in the crook of his arm. "Why?

"Because you should be able to feel safe here."

Rina sighed; but could see the benefit of his offer. If she was slightly less neurotic, it would probably be easier to win Pash's challenge.

Face's commlink beeped and he spoke a few words into it before another, taller man came into the increasingly cramped space

"You had better have a damn good reason for calling me down here Face." He groused as he dumped what Rina presumed was the infamous medical kit, onto one of the shelves of racking, "I was busy charming the lovely Tyria and I am still on Squeaky's hit list from the first day of training.

Rina peered around Face's shoulder, "Oh Force, that was you!?" Her eyes danced with remembered mischief, "I did wonder why Squeaky needed my bottle of Corellian Fire oil.

The tall pilot was dressed in civvies, rather than the ubiquitous orange jumpsuits and Rina realised she must be dizzy from blood loss as that could be the only reason she couldn't look away.

He was taller than Garik, and thinner. He had a prosthetic shell and red lit optic across the top left half of his face, somewhat softened by a soft fall of brown hair.

Rina found herself captivated by his remaining blue eye. It was the same cold blue as the pilot light on her ovens.

She blushed as he bumped Face out of the way, "Now then. Tell Dr Phanan all about what this terrible man has done to you."  
Face quirked an eyebrow, "Why are you never that nice to us?"

Phanan's clipped tones held a hint of amusement, "Because I'm just your medic and you've usually done something to deserve your punishment. Besides; you aren't half as pretty."

Rina whimpered, of course her sanctum couldn't have been invaded by accountants instead she had not one, but two, ego-powered fighter jockeys crammed in the narrow cubby.

The newcomer tilted his head, he had only just reached for her hand and she'd tensed up like he was about to stab her.  
"I'm fine, I've had worse accidents" she protested as he gently unwrapped the sodden rag. "Just give me some painkillers and a bandage; I need to get on with dinner."

"Nonsense! I can follow a recipe just as well as anyone." Face squeezed past and started rolling up his sleeves. "Okay. What are we serving tonight?"

Rina hissed through her teeth, partly in pain as Ton examined her cut; but mostly in frustration as they both ignored her protests. At least that answered her question about whether it was just Pash; or if all of those hotshots thought the universe was all about them. They were all just as bad.

"It's dishes 14 and 56 on the pad over there." Rina scowled, not quite ready to give in yet.  
"But once you finish, I'll get straight on it right?" Rina peeked up at the stern medic through her red-gold bangs.

"Only if you want to lose the use of your fingers on this hand. You were lucky only to graze the tendons. What were you using?" Ton packed the wound with care before wrapping it in a tight bandage.  
"Just one of my cooking knives."

Ton pulled off his gloves and loomed over her, leaning his head down until they were nose to nose.  
A scream died in her throat as he whispered in her ear, "Have you been getting help? I bet you haven't been to talk to anyone have you?" His voice was low and strangely soothing.

Rina cradled her hand against her chest, and shook her head. "I manage fine usually; but Squeaky changed the routine by letting some pilot come in and his friend who thinks he knows what's wrong with me."

Ton chuckled, "So there is some fight left in you then."

"Phanan! Stop tormenting sweet Rina and come be a proper wingman and help me out here!"

Ton waved a finger at her, "Don't you dare move until one of us takes you back to your quarters. Those painkillers will knock you right over."

Rina gave in, shut her eyes and let the music of home flow through her mind. She could worry about service; about her father's demands; about the scolding Squeaky would be sure to give her; about whether her hand would heal properly later. Now she needed to trust that they wouldn't burn down the kitchen.


	5. An unscheduled stop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onward dear readers! As always any errors or adjustments to timelines are all my fault; everything else Wraith Squadron belongs to Aaron Allston. I'm just playing with his toys for a bit :)

Rina, arms loaded down with belongings, skidded to a halt next to Squeaky.

A human male in a grease stained orange jumpsuit stood at the bottom of the ramp of the last shuttle in the hangar, "Here, I've got it." He plucked the largest bags from her arms and ushered them up the boarding ramp.

Rina skittered up after him, heart pounding wildly, she'd never really thought she'd have to evacuate for real.

"Better strap yourselves in; this could get fruity."

The ramp whined as it closed and Rina scrambled into the seat beside the pilot. This was far closer to actual combat than she was comfortable with; but this was far better than being crammed onto one of the other transports with hundreds of other evacuees. In theory at least.

As the shuttle's engines whined more loudly, Rina allowed herself a moment to grieve for the pieces of home that she'd had to leave behind; a few pictures of her family, a handful of music recordings; but worst was her string drum. There just hadn't been room for the instrument and she just had to hope they could go back one day soon.

After all she'd only been officially made owner of DownTime for a day and she had come round to the idea of being in charge of herself for once.

Her fingers dug into the seat's armrests as they sped down the tunnel that would lead them to safety. "So it seems that the other transports got away okay."

The man, Rina guessed mechanic judging by the myriad grease stains on his jumpsuit, said "I know the Borleias was having difficulties with her engines; wouldn't have happened if she were my ship let me tell you!"

' _Definitely a mechanic then.'_ She thought.

The Lambda class shuttle turned away from the direction Rina saw the other transports heading in, Squeaky leaned forward and explained, "Miss Hambly, as quartermaster for Wraith Squadron, it was my duty to ensure efficiency; so I have to be with them at their next destination."

Understanding dawned coldly on Rina, "And that's not where everyone else is going."

She silently cursed her impulse to help her metal friend. When the alert had come; Rina had been going over the minutiae of running DownTime with Squeaky and Rina had instinctively helped him raid the lockers of his squadron's pilots.

Of course, that meant she'd only had time to grab her own bug out bag from the kitchen, which luckily included her music recordings; the one thing she believed kept her sane.

Rina sighed, although she was thrilled to be alive and not stuffed into one of the transports, she was now effectively trapped with an entire squadron of fighter jockeys on a course to Force knew where.

"Name's Cubber by the way," he glanced over and smiled, "Cubber Daine; chief mechanic for those lunatics for my sins."

"Rina Hambly. I _was_  a cook for DownTime and for about ten standard hours it's new owner. Now?" She shrugged, "not so sure."

Cubber grinned and patted the belly that strained against his oil and grease stained jumpsuit, "Well I'm sure we would appreciate a good meal before we get you back to where you need to go."

Rina smiled wanly, she hated not having one of her many routines to fall back on in case of emergency.

"All Wraiths back safe and sound." Wes Janson's voice crackled over the radio.

"Who's piloting the Narra?"

That was another male pilot, Rina wasn't 100% sure; but thought it could have been the big human, Kell Tanner? Tainer? Something beginning with a T anyway.

"It's Cubber, Five. I have Squeaky and a cook Hambly here too."

"Be advised Wraiths, instead of hopping on the first transport off this rock, Squeaky stayed behind to raid your quarters and lockers bagging anything of personal value and it's all aboard the Narra." 

Over the cheers and whistles Squeaky responded with his usual brand of curtness, "It was a matter of enlightened self-interest I assure you. I am far too busy to attend to requests for replacements."

Rina tried to identify which X-wings she thought Face and Ton were in; Face had stayed true to his promise to show her a few tricks and whenever his wingman wasn't trying to get into the blonde pilot, Tyria's pants, he'd sometimes chime in with a sarcastic comment or two. It was definitely working; after all, she'd managed to carry out a conversation with Cubber!

The Narra's comm beeped as they where hailed on a private channel; Wedge's tone was curious, "So who else do we have on board?"

Rina blushed and cleared her throat, "Um. Rina Hambly sir. I was helping Squeaky."

There was a pause, "Hambly; as in diplomat Armitage Hambly?" Rina nodded.

"He can't hear a nod kid."

"Oh. Yessir. He's my father sir." Rina blushed in embarrassment.

"Well I want to thank you on behalf of the rest of the Wraiths. We will be meeting up with the other transports at Doldrums, so you'll be able to get back soon enough."

The starfield in front of the transparasteel viewport jerked and blurred as the stars elongated into hyperspace.

Cubber undid the pilot's harness and pushed the chair back. "Well Hambly, do you mind helping me stow those reprobate's bags away? We have a few hours til we get to where we're going."

Rina's fingers fumbled on her own buckles and she stumbled behind on wobbly legs. She had always suffered from hyperspace vertigo, which was why she never followed her family's footsteps by becoming a pilot.

\---

"And that's when the poor man swallowed the whole thing!"

Cubber roared with laughter at Rina's retelling of Ton's punishment at the metallic hands of Squeaky. The droid made an annoyed noise, "Well I wouldn't have had to stoop to such levels had the wretched creature been civilised in the first instance."

Rina smiled fondly at the cantankerous droid; she was quite fond of the prim and proper Squeaky. He didn't think she was stranger than any of the other inefficient flesh creatures he was forced to deal with on a daily basis. For that, she was grateful.

The trip to Doldrums was due to take 3 jumps and Cubber frowned as the Narra suddenly dropped out of hyperspace. "It's too soon!" was all he managed to get out before all of the electronics on the Narra went dead.

Rina picked herself up from where she'd been thrown to the floor when the Narra had shuddered to an unexpected stop. "Squeaky!" The droid's photoreceptors were dark and he wasn't responding. Rina pressed her ear to the droid's torso cowling, but she couldn't hear the familiar whine of servo motors, and Squeaky telling her it was pointless trying to give him hugs.

Cubber swore and wormed under the console, "Even life support's down. Rina, can you check if any of the others dropped out too; or if it was just us."

She left Squeaky's side reluctantly and hurried back to the main transparasteel viewport, she cupped her hands around her face to cut out the minimal glare of Cubber's glow rods and let out a happy noise of relief. "It looks like we're all in trouble together Mr Daine." All of the fighters were drifting, powerless. "It looks as though some of them are getting there through; some of the astromechs are still running external lights."

Cubber grunted, "i think a manual restart should get us up and running again." He pushed a panel back into place and the Narra's power flickered back to life. Squeaky's servos ground together as it seemed he was going through his own manual restart.

Rina sighed on relief and touched the headphones clipped to the belt of her cargo pants. Thankfully they hadn't been damaged, but she slipped them on to test if they were still functional as Cubber checked in on the radio. The tension eased from her shoulders as the familiar melody of Tatooine blues drifted out of the earbuds.

She honestly had no idea what she would have done if she hadn't been able to use her music to stop the panic attack that she had felt looming when Cubber had told her the life support was down. A meaty hand shook her shoulder slightly and she shrieked.

It was just Cubber, he'd changed into a vacuum suit and was holding a toolbox. "Just going outside to help the others get sorted."

He cocked his head, "You sure you're alright? I swear you didn't even notice when we dragged some of the fighters down planet side." Rina blushed, ' _How long was I gone for this time?'_

Her doctor; her actual doctor, not Ton, had said that some stressful situations could induce fugue states where hours could pass and she wouldn't even realise; but if she kept up with her coping strategies, she should be fine.

Cubber ruffled her hair and stepped into the airlock; chuckling quietly to himself.

Rina slumped down in the pilot's chair and sighed in relief. It wasn't much, but a few moments of quiet (if she ignored the radio chatter) could be enough to stop her hands shaking.

She heard the airlock hiss again, and she turned, expecting to see Cubber returning for something else to do whatever it was he and Tanner had been doing to get most of the X-Wings back up and running.

Instead, Ton stumbled through into the main cabin area. Rina smiled in surprise and a little concern; she hadn't even considered that whatever had temporarily killed everything electronic might have also affected Ton's prosthetics.

The thirty two year old pilot dropped gracelessly into one of the uncomfortable bench seats and let his head fall back with a thunk as it bounced off the metal wall. He grunted and closed his eye, lines of pain grooved deeply on his face.

Squeaky looked at Rina with that odd flat look that she had mentally categorised as 'quizzical' as she stood and retrieved a small box from one of the storage compartments.

Rina pointed at the white lettering on the box, 'Emergency Medkit', and then pointed to her acquaintance who hadn't seemed to notice he hadn't manage to bandage all of his injuries.

Squeaky favoured her with another inscrutable stare. Clearly he still hadn't forgiven the sarcastic pilot for his faux pas all that time ago.

"Ton?" Rina laid the small box on the bench and clicked it open, before rummaging for something she could use that didn't contain bacta. He didn't lift his head or open his eye, but Rina knew he was listening. "Are you alright? What happened to your X-Wing? Is it okay?"

Ton smiled crookedly, "Yes, well mostly. It died. And no it's most definitely not okay." He hissed through his teeth as Rina dabbed at the cut just below his hairline.

"Don't be such a baby." She taped on a gauze dressing and snapped the medkit's lid shut, "I guess doctors really are the worst patients."

"Ex-doctor."

"Whatever you say then Mr I'm not a doctor, I'm a 'medic'." Rina playfully bumped his shoulder with her own. _That_  prompted Ton to open his eye and look down at her.

"Fine!" He quirked an eyebrow and sat up, "I had some issues with the cybernetics, and something weird still happens if I get too close to a working datapad; but I'm just too tired to be able to concentrate right now."

Rina patted his knee and stood, ready to return to her seat up front.

"Thank you."

Rina smiled, "It was nae problem, we're even on the bandaging front now anyway."

Rina flinched as soon as she realised that she'd let slip a bit of her natural accent, but before she could decipher whether or not Ton had decided to tease her for it; the comms crackled and a tinny voice came through. After the Wraiths had finished outlining what sounded like certain suicide; Rina turned to look at Squeaky. "Squeaky?"

"Yes Miss Hambly?"

"Did you just hear that?"

"Yes Miss Hambly."

Somehow the plan now was to fit Phanan's mech to a smuggling compartment that was hidden somewhere in the Narra; arm it with a chopped down laser cannon; stuff Piggy (the exceedingly polite Gamorrean pilot) into it; shove this...contraption out into space and board whatever ship was on its way to capture them.

"They're insane aren't they."

"Yes Miss Hambly."

"Shut up Phanan."

"Yes Miss-ouch!"


	6. The Lunatic

"You have to be kidding me."

Rina stared at the tiny airlock space that they expected her, Ton, and Squeaky to fit into whilst Kell and Cubber completed work on the newly-dubbed Lunatic.

Ton had already claimed a spot and was smirking at her. Rina glared and reluctantly stepped inside as well, "You could at least pretend not to be enjoying this."

She leaned against the opposite wall, ensuring that there was as much space between them as possible and shut her eyes before asking, "How long do you think they'll take?"

Whatever smartarse answer Ton had ready was lost as Squeaky was shoved in now that Kell and Cubber were ready to start. Rina dodged out of the way of one flailing metal arm and found herself wedged between a droid and a pilot.

' _Force! Why do you hate me so? What did I do to deserve this?'_

Although both Ton and Squeaky were built on the thin side of average, the airlock wasn't really built to accommodate that many people.

"Squeaky! For Force's sake stop fidgeting!" Rina snapped as the droid's latest manoeuvre resulted in her having to cling onto Phanan's side or be knocked over. ' _This is so kriffing embarrassing...'_

The gold and silver droid muttered to itself but thankfully stopped moving. Rina sighed and began to think of things to distract herself with; other than the sad fact that this was probably the closest she'd get to hugging anyone that wasn't her cousin, uncle, or a irascible protocol droid of course.

She'd gotten halfway through planning next week's menu when she realised what a pointless exercise this was; it was highly likely that DownTime had been bombed out of existence along with Folor base.

"So..." Rina looked up when Ton started to speak. "Come here often?"

The sheer absurdity of her situation hit home, and she laughed, "Oh aye, this is my favourite destination for being lost on space. With no clue of who pulled us out of hyperspace, no way to plot a course home, and being stuffed into an airlock with two strange men."

Ton's mouth quirked into a smile that didn't entirely mask the pain that still lingered. "Well as long as I'm your first choice for all of your airlock filling needs, I guess that's acceptable."

"Idiot." Rina mock scowled, and prodded the pilot in the stomach. Her smiled faded and she sighed again. "How much longer are they going to take?"

Ton peered over her shoulder; trying to see past Squeaky to judge how close to finished the Lunatic was. "Not sure. If I didn't know better; I'd be insulted that you didn't want to be trapped in here with me!"

Rina rolled her eyes, comfortable enough with Phanan's snarky sense of humour to not be intimidated. "What woman in her right mind could resist?" She almost missed the sadness that flitted across his face, a moment that was banished almost instantly. "Sorry."

"What for?" Rina was surprised that the pilot's question had sounded genuine. Perhaps she'd misread his expression and he was just still hurting from the explosion and subsequent malfunction of his prosthetics.

"Um-" she wasn't entirely sure what to say. She wasn't entirely sure what strange impulse had prompted her to apologise in the first place. There was just a...lost quality that she found intriguing. 

Rina decided a quick change of topic would be best, something topical that hopefully strayed far for the dangerous others they'd started down. She didn't open up to anyone that wasn't Pash. She had learnt that lesson the hard way. 

"How's your head?" She finally blurted, _'Really Ree; that's the best you come up with - asking about his possible concussion?'_ She mentally scolded herself. 

Thankfully she was spared the embarrassing agony of trying to keep the small talk going as the airlock whooshed open and she shot out into the cabin like a human missile. 

As the Wraiths explained the plan to Piggy; Rina did her best to stay out of the way of the huge green-skinned Gamorrean. She sighed and kept her eyes away from the viewports. There was too much black out there for her to feel comfortable; she most definitely preferred the feel of something solid beneath her feet. 

Rina gasped when someone touched her shoulder. It was Ton, not looking at all sorry for startling her. 

"Time to go." 

Rina blinked. "Go where?" 

He gestured to the area where Piggy was squeezing himself into the jury-rigged craft that had 'Lunatic' sprayed on the side with the obnoxiously orange paint from Cubber's toolbox. 

"Wonderful. Back in the airlock again." Rina sighed and followed Ton into the tiny space. 


	7. Nightcaller

When the Narra's boarding ramp finished whirring down to the hangar bay floor of the newly-captured Nightcaller, Rina had to force herself not to sprint from the shuttle.  
It had been freezing down on the cold and windy moon the rest of the Wraiths had had to hide on whilst the ' _plan_ ' was being implemented. She shivered again, seeing Falynn Sandskimmer; a taciturn and grumpy young woman from Tatooine; somewhat cheerfully sweeping up the ash and bits of clothing that were all that remained of the Nightcaller's previous captain.  
As soon as Rina disembarked, the Narra's boarding ramp began to rise again, ready for Cubber to squirrel it away.  
Squeaky had already left her; hellbent on assessing whatever inventory the Imps had had on board.  
Phanan and the bothan, Grinder, had retired to the little infirmary to try and fix Phanan's cybernetics that were still malfunctioning.  
The other pilots were occupied with scouring the ship for any hidden Imps and guarding the existing prisoners.  
Rina had been forgotten.  
Left to her own devices, Rina found herself wandering the suddenly deserted corridors until she found the small galley.  
It really did seem like the Wraiths had caught the crew of the Nightcaller off guard - it appeared that the galley crew had been in the middle of preparing dinner.  
Now _this_ was something she could deal with. Rina dropped her duffel bag and nudged it under one of the metal counters with the toe of her scuffed combat boot.  
Rina pushed up her sleeves and extracted her personal datapad from one of the myriad pockets of her olive green combat trousers.  
She sniffed the contents of the pot and gagged; you could tart up those horrible rations from Binring Biomed all you wanted; but you couldn't get rid of that artificial nutrient paste aroma.  
Of course, these galley hands were clearly inferior cooks. Spotting a power socket, she plugged in her music cube and selected the 'random' function.  
As the music quietly filled the galley, Rina felt the tension ease out of her shoulders.  
A quick rummage in one of her duffel's pouches yielded a small pot of her mother's secret spice mix, 'There; that should be edible now.' Rina stirred the spicy and sweet mixture into the slop her predecessor had started, clipped the lid onto the huge tureen and set it aside onto the warming plate until needed.  
"Bugger, I hoped that would take longer." Rina washed her hands and scrutinised the surprisingly luxurious galley. "I suppose I could take inventory whilst I'm here. Save Squeaky the trouble." The redhead pulled out her personal datapad and stubbornly ignored the little voice in the back of her head that was fretting about the argument she'd had with her father that morning.

Twenty minutes later Rina was furious. Her opinion of the previous occupants was that they had clearly the sense of hygiene of a Kowakian monkey lizard and standards of a Hutt.  
"Sloppy." Mislabelled boxes of rations and ingredients.  
"Disgusting." Improperly washed utensils and surfaces.  
"Ooh. Just what I was looking for." Amongst the crappy supplies in the walk in refrigerator nestled the ingredients for her favourite pastries.  
"It'd be a shame to waste the cream." Rina grinned happily and set to work.

\---000---

Wedge Antilles, still feeling far older than his years thanks to the latest crazy plan from the Wraiths, stopped short of the galley.  
Wes Janson, his second in command, had to quickly sidestep to avoid crashing into the Corellian.  
The baby-faced Wes peered around Wedge's shoulder to see a guilty-looking Face hovering beside the door, Ton beside him; thankfully back to normal.  
"Oh, Commander." Both men snapped to attention and Wedge quirked an eyebrow at their uncharacteristic military bearing. Face shot an uneasy look at the door; "I wouldn't-"  
"Don't touch the radio-"

\---000---

The door behind her hissed open for what must have been the tenth time since the boys had discovered her hidey hole.  
Rina ground her teeth together, Force knew she had a long fuse, but being begged for scraps for an hour, whilst trying to get the cream to whip properly by hand (there was no way she was going to use the current mixer until it had been thoroughly sanitised, or possibly jettisoned into space), had pushed her to her limit.  
Putting the hand whisk down for a moment, Rina dipped her fingers into the soft peaks, spun, and threw the glob of flavoured confectionary at Face.  
"I hope you enjoyed that you pest. I said dinner would be ready quicker if you left me...alone...well shit."  
Rina paled and saluted, not noticing the traces of cream she left on her own face.  
Wes Janson, trying very hard to suppress a grin, reached out a finger and swiped it through the white substance on Wedge's cheek. "Mmm, vanilla."  
' _Shitshitshitshitshit_.'  
Wedge cleared his throat and Rina had to resist the urge to barricade herself in the freezer for the rest of forever.  
"I am so, so sorry. I heard Face's voice outside and I-"  
Wedge held up a hand, temporarily halting Rina's panic babble. "I understand the violent urges those two can inspire; but in future, perhaps check before you start throwing things."  
Rina winced, "Please don't be cross at them, they're just wee boys wanting to steal dessert before dinner."  
' _What are you doing Ree?'_ Her inner voice screamed at her, ' _shut up shut up shut up; that's the man that holds your actual life in his cream covered hands!!'_  
Wedge allowed a small smile to creep onto his face; the unfortunate girl had been involved with this madness completely by accident, and Wes had confirmed that she'd never been in a proper military environment before.  
She looked so horrified, he was sure she was going to faint.  
"I was actually looking for Squeaky to discuss provisioning; but it appears you have matters in hand Miss Hambly."  
"Well, not just in her hand, but on your-" Wes smirked and sidestepped his commanding officer's death glare, but wisely refrained from finishing his comment.  
Rina shook herself out of her panic-induced state and nodded, "Aye sir. I took the liberty of taking inventory and setting up shop here. I've sent copies to Squeaky and if I don't have any other-" she paused and cringed at the situation in front of her, "-distractions; dinner'll be ready in about a half-standard hour from now. Uh Mr Antilles, sir."  
"Good work Miss Hambly. I'll look forward to dessert." Wedge nodded and the pair of men left the galley.  
' _Sithspit. I can't believe I just survived that.'_ Rina sank back against the metal counter in relief; not noticing the whoosh of the doors opening again.  
She let the familiar strains of an old piece of harp music from one of the countless worlds she'd found herself dragged to after her father, wash over her as she tried in vain to calm her heart rate to that of a normal human being's.  
"I can't believe you threw whipped cream all over Commander Antilles." Rina yelped in surprise as Face whispered in her ear, breath warm on her cheek.  
"I can't believe you thought they were us." Face's wingman, Ton Phanan, drawled from her other side, Rina jumped and tried to retreat but bumped against the metal countertop. "We are far more handsome."  
"And modest." Face carried on his wingman's thought seamlessly.  
"And have no concept of personal space, or eating dessert after dinner." Rina grumbled, nervously fiddling with the hem of her thin shirt.  
She sighed and slanted a flat look at the pair of them, "Dinner will be ready in an hour. Now go and persecute someone else; in sure that there are some Imperials that need tormenting."


	8. Messages from the black

From: Ginger-ace  To: LadyWallflower Subject: ??

Cuz! Just heard about Folor - you alright?

Pash

 

\---000---

From: Ginger-ace

To: LadyWallflower

Subject: Hello?

Cuz, I hope that you're on one of those transports and that's the reason you haven't replied yet. Please let me know you're safe. Your dad's been hounding mine for an update. Be safe.

 

\---000---

From: Ginger-ace

To: LadyWallflower

Subject: Rina!!!!

Rina. Please don't be dead. Can't talk long. In a mission briefing; the usual stuff. Just remember if you are dead, I will out you as a Cracken to everyone and we'll organise a state funeral or something!

P

 

\---000---

From: Wraith2

To: Ginger-ace

Subject: I'm still alive!

Hello, I'm the comms specialist for Wraith Squadron and I have a message for you - text only:

Jesmin agreed to send this for me in exchange for adding some MonCal delicacies on the menu next week - not gonna lie; it'll be a challenge with the swill this kitchen was stocked with but I digress. As much as it would be convenient to let Daddy think I expired; I want you to let him know I'm okay and I haven't changed my mind - answer's still no.He'll know what it's about.

Be happy Cuz; I'm having an adventure you'd be proud of - once it's declassified or whatever you military types call it; I promise to tell you all about it.

Any news on whether we'll ever get back to Folor? I had to leave my old faithful string drum behind and I really miss her :(

Ah well looks like I'm needed. Will check in as soon as I can. Squeaky sends his love!

Rina x

 

\---000---

From: LadyWallflower

To: ContruumMan

Subject: No

Just in case you're worrying - I'm fine. I don't know where we're heading. And to be perfectly honest, after your childish outburst when I quite reasonably declined to marry a person I've never met just to get you out of trouble again, I think that's a good thing. Before you ask, I won't be changing my mind about this. I do love you daddy, I just wish you weren't so damned selfish. Rina

 

\---000---

From: ContruumMan

To: LadyWallflower

Subject: RE: No

Come on baby girl. You know you're overreacting; I'm sure you'll love him when you meet him. I just want to make sure you're looked after if anything should happen to your loving papa. Your Mam would want you to be happily settled, even if she's not here any more to be with us. I tell you what; if you let me know where you'll be; I'll let him know so you two youngsters can meet up and fall in love.

Dad


	9. Xobome 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stranded in a strange star system with no way to return either to Folor, or move on to the planned rendezvous at Doldrums; the Wraiths make the best of a bad situation.

Rina stumbled to her berth and slapped blindly at the keypad, "Open dammit."

Her voice was scratchy with tiredness and her eyes were refusing to focus. This was now the second day where she'd had about five hours' sleep.

It was harder than she thought to feed fifty plus Imperial prisoners and the dozen or so Wraiths especially as it physically pained her to have to use the awful rations the previous captain had stocked the corvette with.

Eventually the door opened and Rina lurched gratefully for the bunk. She threw herself face downward on top of the covers, not even bothering to unlace her boots. Her eyes had barely closed when she heard a knock on the door. _'Oh for the love of all that is sweet and spicy.'_

She mumbled something unintelligible and rolled off the grey blanket; barely remaining upright enough to wobble to the door. Rina opened the door and blinked dazedly at the giant mug of caf that was waved in her face. It took her significantly longer to recognise the body holding said mug of liquid heaven.

"Mr Loran?"

"Please call me Face." He beamed, "Or at least Garik."

Rina took a gulp of the caf, "What's wrong?" She was so tired it came out as "Whussrong?"

Face extended a hand, "Come my lady; time for your first lesson." Rina squinted at the hand gently holding hers, synapses firing just that little bit too slowly to retreat.

As the tall pilot practically towed her along the corridor Rina tried to protest, but was cheerfully ignored as usual.

She bumped into Face's back when he stopped suddenly and almost fell backward, narrowly avoiding spilling rapidly-cooling caf on herself.

"Whoops!"

"Garik! What in the world are you doing? I'm far too tired for your shenanigans." Rina drained the last of the caf and shoved the mug back at the scarred pilot.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and manoeuvred Rina to stand in front of him. They were standing on the catwalk above the hangar where Kell and Cubber were still hard at work stripping metal and doing some sort of mechanical witchcraft making what looked like giant versions of the sliding mechanisms of her own storage units.

"Lesson number one-" Loran began, only to be interrupted by the still-cranky redhead.

"I thought those mind-clearing exercises were lesson one."

"Hush young padawan. All of my lessons are equally important so you should hang on my every word and give me the adulation that is properly due."

Rina rolled her eyes, wishing devoutly for another cup of caf.

"Anyway; your task is to watch those big lugs. They aren't your enemy."

He dropped his arm and moved away a little to give the jittery girl some space. Face leaned against the railings and just talked.

Despite her intentions to sulk; Rina found herself paying attention. The ex-actor from Pantolomin certainly could turn a phrase.

"They're just two folks, just like you or me. Nothing too scary there." He yawned and pointed down to Kell, "Like that guy. Sure he's built like a brick shi-uh. Twice as tall as you and twice as wide." He quickly amended at Rina's stern expression.

"But I bet you didn't know that he's head over heels in love with Tyria. People are infinitely complex Rina. You sometimes just need to look a little deeper."

Some of Rina's indecision must have shown as Face gave her his trademark lazy smile, "I bet that by the time we get this crate ready to go, you can't tell me three things about Kell Tainer or Cubber that I don't already know."

He'd meant it in a lighthearted, teasing your younger sibling kind of way; but was surprised when Rina nodded once, muttered, "Challenge accepted Loran!", turned on her heel and strode away.

"Hmm." Now that was some interesting information to keep in mind.

\---

When some of her initial rush of competitive spirit faded, Rina realised that she'd been neatly manipulated into 'mingling'. Something that'd she'd been steadfastly refusing to do on the grounds that she was too busy.

' _Fine! I'll show that smug know-it-all what for!'_ She thought as she headed back to her bunk.

Squeaky had told her that they were likely to be here for another day or two at most to give the two mechanics time to do the necessary repairs to the corvette and to the damaged snubfighters.

Making sure that her alarm was set so she would get back to the galley and prepare breakfast for everyone. She was still scheming when she fell asleep.

\---000---

Fyr sighed and sent his message via hypercomm to his boss back on Nar Shaadaa. It wasn't the update that would save his skin; but hopefully it'd be enough to stop the constant threats for a while.

**Boss. Found Hambly, can't collect him - bastard has diplomatic immunity. Can't get near him.**

Fyr paused as he thought of how best to phrase the rest of his transmission. Half of him wished he could have just called normally; he could usually fast-talk his way out of anything. But he couldn't be sure if anyone was listening in. At least there was less chance of anyone being able to decipher the gang's unique cypher used for external comms. 

**Hambly has a daughter/possible weakness - I tracked her as far as Folor, but she disappeared during Imp attack. Got my best man on tracking her.**

The twi'lek squinched his eyes shut and pressed submit. He waited for a few tense moments until a response pinged onto his screen.

**Plan has merit. Sending contact details for slicer. Get new face and get the girl.**

Fyr let out a relieved sigh and slumped down into his chair. "Time to get drunk."

\---000---

Rina hurried through her preparation for the breakfast rush; instead of sticking around in case anyone needed anything else, Rina simply made the biggest pot of caf possible and laid out some pastries she'd managed to cobble together with the last of the fresh ingredients.

Ingredients that had been labelled for Captain Darillian's use only.

Sure it wasn't a patch on stealing an entire ship; but every rebellion had to start somewhere.

Rina loaded a tray with cups, a smaller pot of caf and a couple plates with a few different kinds of small snacks. She made her way back to the forward hangar where Kell and Cubber were still working.

' _Did they even go to bed?'_ She wondered as she picked her way across the hangar, stepping carefully over discarded chunks of scrap. "Morning gentlemen."

Rina placed the tray on a work cabinet and handed the mechanic, Cubber, a cup of caf. "One for you Mr Daine," she picked up the second mug and held it out, "and one for you Flight Officer Tainer."

The big man took the mug gently and smiled, "Kell."

She had to force a smile in return remembering Face's advice. Rina desperately wanted to scurry away like those little mouse droids and come back when they were done; but she was her father's daughter in more ways than she was comfortable with and just like Daddy, she couldn't say no to a challenge or a dare. "Do you mind if I watch for a while?" Rina asked as she refilled Cubber's mug.

"Dearie, anyone who comes bearing caf and cake can do whatever she likes!" Cubber chuckled.

"So what are you two working so hard on? I've been in the galley for most of the time so far so I've missed most of what's been going on." Rina took a sip from her own mug, whilst trying to make sense of the heaps of metal railings and cross struts. _'Nicely done Rina. Now try and find out something that nosy wretch isn't likely to already know.'_

"Well, we're trying to figure out how to fit all of our snubfighters into the Night Caller's hold so we can get out of here." Kell explained, handing a hydrospanner to Cubber.

' _So Mr Daine is left handed.'_ Rina noted, ' _Pretty sure Garik doesn't know the mechanic as well as one of his teammates so hopefully that will make his bits easier for me.'_ She hoped it would anyway. The scarred pilot was irritatingly observant though so it wasn't completely out of the realms of possibility he'd noticed. "I see." Rina said doubtfully.

If they were confident that they could fit almost a dozen of the large vehicles into that forest of metal, that was good enough for her. She realised that her pot of caf was almost empty and she only had one potential piece of information. ' _Quick! Think of something!_ '

"Oh Mr Tai- Kell, did you want something to eat before I go?" She offered the plate of small cakes and pastries.

His eyes lit up when he spied a confection of thin, flaky pastry and sugared fruits. "Wow I've not seen one of those since I left the shop on Sluis Van!"

"Oh? I didn't know you were a shopkeeper." Rina said with the winsome expression she had hoped never to use again once she was old enough to earn her own keep.

"I was a mechanic before learning how to make bombs and fly fighters for the rebellion."

"I see." She sat and listened to the two of them for a little while longer; even handed them a few tools before she excused herself to go back to work. She thought she had a few more ideas, and was feeling quietly confident.

Perhaps a little too confident, but nevertheless when she spotted Face in the corridor she confronted him. "So our wee bet; what's in it for me? If you say something like 'the warm glow of personal achievement', I swear I will burn you with a hot spoon."

Face paused, valiantly ignoring Ton's sniggering. "What do you suggest then? I was thinking if you lose, then we get an extra dessert and you bring me my caf every mealtime."

Rina blanched a little at the idea of all of that possible extra time out of her new sanctuary; but the little devil inside her spoke up before her common sense could overrule it, "Fine. _My_ terms are that if I win; you and Dr Phanan help clean up after mealtimes and pick up any local delicacies if we go anywhere nicer than this frozen rock."

"Done." Face held out his hand and the short cook shook it firmly.

Both ignored Ton's protests that he really hasn't been involved in the bet in the first place.

\---000---

Four hours later - Night Caller's galley

Rina peeked around the door; relieved to see that Ton and Face were the only ones currently in there. Taking a deep breath, she walked in as confidently as she could, knowing full well her self-appointed mentor would only say something about her usual way of shrinking into herself. It definitely helped that they were on her home turf; not a lot, but enough to keep her from running to the nearest escape pod.

"All right then you sadist; let's get this over and done with." Rina muttered as she picked nervously at a frayed thread on the cuff of her olive green shirt.

Face boosted himself up onto the countertop and Ton leaned against the edge of the freezer, still looking a bit miffed about being dragged away from his not-so-subtle pursuit of the lovely Tyria.

"Now then Miss Hambly; you shouldn't rush through every new experience. Some things are best when you take the time to enjoy every last aspect." Face lectured before levelling his best 'smoulder' at her.

Rina felt her face heating up at the blatant double entendre and glared at the pair. Face was such a ham and Ton wasn't much better.

"Well I'm just here to make sure you don't lose so I don't ruin my hands doing the kriffing dishes." Phanan muttered irritably.

Rina narrowed her eyes at the pair of them before taking a deep breath, "Cubberislefthanded, KellhadacrushonTuataraLone, theybothlovemypastriesandbothhaveyoungersisters."

Face blinked, "Now try breathing and try again. I don't want you to hyperventilate or anything."

' _If he didn't want me to suffer, then he wouldn't make me say it twice.'_ Rina growled and repeated herself more slowly.

Ton watched the pair of them bicker over what counted as a 'fact', wondering exactly when that girl had become another Wraith to them. She wasn't even a mechanic (a necessary evil according to most glory-hound pilots he'd flown with in his previous unit). Humble non-combatants tended to be overlooked by pilots, Force knew he was guilty of that himself. Still...despite her desire to go unnoticed, there was something different about the red-headed cook.

Ton's habitual smirk began to fade as the matching grin on his wingmate's face vanished.

"Sithspit. I didn't expect you to actually succeed Ree."

The girl scowled and flung a pair of rubber gloves at her 'mentor'. "Thanks for the vote of confidence Loran." She shoved the metal pot she'd cooked the night's casserole in into Ton's arms, "And the name is Rina!" The young woman snapped, emphasising both syllables of her name. A sly smile ghosted across her face as she made a swift exit. She popped her head back into the kitchen, forcing down the urge to laugh, "Make sure to scrub every inch gentlemen; I _will_ be checking!"

 


	10. Viamarr 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rina comes Face to Face with some interesting occurrences and someone learns why one shouldn't snoop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is for my commenting reader, Ruby. Hope you enjoy!!

Rina was curled up on one of the overstuffed couches in the stern lounge, enjoying a brief respite from the galley.

Although she had to admit that the copious notes she was making did look suspiciously like menus and a list of names, dates and dishes.

"Thanks again Mr Thri'ag for doing whatever exactly it was that made my datapad work again." She smiled at the smug bothan pilot, who preened shamelessly. "Tell me what your favourite food is, and if I have the ingredients, I'll make sure it goes on next week's menu."

As the silver-furred slicer tapped through her extensive list of recipes, Rina congratulated herself on a job well done. She hadn't freaked out too much when she had sought out the slicer for some help getting her datapad to work again after it had an unscheduled trip into some cake batter.

"Here."

She took the datapad and pursed her lips thoughtfully, "Leave it with me and I'll see what I can do." She thought she had most of the ingredients, but would have to check if there were any dried mushrooms in Captain Darillian's secret stash. It really had been a blessing that the Nightcaller's egocentric commander had had a clear love for the finer things in life.

Rina sighed and gathered together the scraps of flimsiplast she'd been scribbling ideas on. She listened to Grinder with half an ear as he recounted again how it just wasn't fair that his wingman, the taciturn human woman Falynn Sandskimmer, has been allowed to go with Wedge to harass the capital of the planet below.

It was just so frustrating. She was finally close to land - actual solid ground - and they were all stuck up here in the corvette.

' _I suppose the appropriate response is something non-committal, but vaguely agreeable.'_ The cook mused, but was interrupted when she heard a wicked chuckle from just behind her.

Rina flinched and glared at the familiar hand on her shoulder, "Any particular reason you're finding something so amusing doctor?"

Ton sniggered and flopped down into the gap between Grinder and Rina, sending the scraps of menus fluttering up into the air. He took a deep breath, but couldn't stop laughing. "Just wait until you see his face!" Ton cackled, and Rina felt her lips twitch into a smile; she'd never seen him so...genuinely happy before.

The medic's sense of humour was usually darker and tinged with a healthy dose of sarcasm.

"Whose face?" Grinder asked curiously.

"Face's face." Ton replied, still trying to get over his laughing fit.

"Face's face?"

"Exactly." Ton plucked a flimsi note from Rina's hair, "Trust me Ree, you're going to enjoy it."

"Rina." Rina automatically corrected as she stood to leave before the rest of the Wraiths congregated in the lounge. She took the scribbled note and scurried out of the lounge, unaware of the eyes watching her leave.

 

\---000---

It was a few standard hours later and Rina had completely forgotten Ton's mysterious message about her tutor's visage. She was standing in front of the dwindling supplies of decent ingredients, thoughtfully tapping away at her datapad, making a wish list to send to Squeaky for whenever they were next likely to pick up supplies. 

She was so absorbed in her mental shopping; that she didn't hear the door to her domain whoosh open, nor the booted footsteps behind her. 

A masculine throat being cleared just behind her left ear caused Rina to shriek and jump sideways in a manner quite reminiscent of a startled feline. 

"Stars above!" Rina swore and was about to harangue her intruder when she realised who it was. "Goodness Garik, what in the name of the Force happened to your face!?"

Loran mumbled something unintelligible and leaned against the doorframe of the pantry. 

Rina stalled her rising panic at being essentially boxed into the small space and clutched her datapad tighter. "I mean, Ton did say something, but I wasn't actually expecting something like...that."

 _That_  was large patches of red raw skin and swathes of what looked like reflective paint all over the pilot's face. Loran looked thoroughly miserable and muttered, "I said I hate improvisation."

Rina blinked at the statement and forced herself to take a step forward to peer up at her mentor/punishment. "Okay. But seriously, what did you do?"

Face took a step back to let her pass into the safety of the galley and resumed his sulking, "We had to take a holocall from the governor of that backwoods hellhole." he scowled, "Jesmin couldn't answer it and neither could Janson, considering she's Mon Calamari and he's on the Empire's most wanted list. I was the only other one there so had to," he shuddered in distaste, "improvise."

Rina set her pad down on the counter with a soft click, "I'm presuming that your current state has something to do with that call?"

Face nodded miserably, "Some of the Wraiths had recognised who I used to be back on Folor and we couldn't risk this guy recognising me either. So I grabbed a pair of Cubber's goggles and some spray paint and thus." He gestured at the carnage and lowered his voice to an almost inhumanly low and gravelly range, "Lieutenant Narol took the call."

He coughed and continued in his own voice, "Turns out the paint was for marking out worksites for out in the black so only comes off with solvent."

When Rina opened her mouth, Face interrupted, "Cubber used up the solvent cleaning out the goggles."

"Oh dear." her lips twitched as she fought the smile that threatened. "I tell you what Garik, if I can get the worst of that paint off without resorting to actually taking off the top layer of your skin, you'll promise to go shopping for me okay?"

Face paused, she did seem rather too confident considering what he'd just told her; but what was the worst that could happen?

He nodded and Rina dragged him to the stool she kept under the workbench and shoved him into it. "Now remember, I still own you and Ton for dishes - this one is just between you and me."

"Fine, just fix it!" 

"Close your eyes." 

Face obeyed and flinched when she wiped something cold and wet across his forehead. It didn't have a scent to it, so he guessed the cloth wasnt soaked in a chemical of any kind. 

"What?"

"Shush Face."

He scowled and yelped when a finger jabbed him in the ribs, "Stop pouting, you're wrinkling the canvas." Rina laughed as she continued to scrub gently, but firmly at the paint. 

She tutted and walked away. 

"Can I open my eyes yet?"

"Nope."

Face strained his ears and thought he heard bottles clinking together. Rina's light footsteps soon returned and a hand swivelled his chair around until he thought he was facing the worktop. 

A pair of small hands cupped his face and tilted his head to the left. 

"There we go. Almost good as new." Rina handed him a dry dish towel to wipe up the still-damp patches. 

Face jumped in surprise as he was confronted with a large ladle. 

"It's the closest thing I have to a mirror in here, sorry." 

Face examined the distorted reflection in amazement. The bloody woman had only gone and bloody done it. "How?"

Rina giggled, "I used to dye my hair a lot when I was younger, any of the mix that got anywhere would  stain pretty much anything. The only way to get rid of the stains was with this." She held up a bottle of pinkish purple liquid. 

"What the frack did you put on me!?"

"Relax Prima Donna, it's just milk with some starch. There's a chemical in there that neutralises a lot of pigments." 

Face levelled a flat stare at the redhead perched on the counter, "Did you just wash my face with a milkshake?"

"Maybe?" Rina said guiltily, suddenly doubting her bright idea.

"Darling girl, you're a genius!" Face grinned and hugged her, deliberately rubbing his still damp face against her cheek. "Because of you I have my lovely beautiful face back!"

Rina stiffened and whimpered at the unexpected and massively inappropriate invasion of her personal space. "P-please let go."

\---

Ton paused outside of the galley, he hasn't been there long; but he wasn't entirely sure what he'd just overheard. He'd been attempting to flirt with Tyria again in the brief moments she wasn't being guarded by Tainer when he'd received a message to get to the galley. 

He'd strolled in like normal, but something very unusual had been happening. Face had been touching their Rina and he would have to run a diagnostic on his systems because he could have sworn his wingman had just called her his 'darling' and 'beautiful' before quite frankly throwing himself at the girl.

Ton firmly quashed the unwelcome sense of disappointment and went back to the communal lounge; they probably didn't need him anyway. 


	11. In the Doldrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rina makes a decision that changes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the latest edition of Diplomat's Daughter - I ended up having to split this one into two for pacing, so hopefully part 2 will be up soon. 
> 
> Hope everyone is still enjoying the ride and please do let me know what you think!

"Hey there Hambly." Wes Janson slid onto the bench next to the startled young woman.

"Stars above Mr Janson! I didn't hear you coming." Rina toyed nervously with the end of her plait, on edge since she didn't know what the prankster could possibly want with her. "Can I help you?"

The baby-faced pilot grinned, "Well I guess it's more like how we could help you Rina."

"Um."

Janson chuckled and passed her a mug of caf, "We'll be picking up supplies soon and getting rid of the prisoners. When they drop off some more crew, there could be room for you on one of those shuttles."

"Oh. I see." Rina was genuinely surprised by the pang of disappointment she felt.

_'Of course they want to get rid of you. You're no use to anyone. You may as well just give in to father's demands and marry that weirdo he has in mind for you. Be useful for once.'_

Rina took a hasty sip of her drink and tried to shove that hateful voice in her head back into the dark corner it lurked in. "Well thank you for letting me know Mr Janson."

"Wes." He corrected with a wink.

Rina shifted uncomfortably before forcing out a response, "Thank you...Wes; I need to go and," Rina looked around desperately for a distraction so she could retreat without seeming rude, or like she was so obviously running away. Face and Ton had just strolled in, joined at the hip as usual and they were clearly looking for snacks. Perfect. "I uh need to go and bring out the desserts; I can see the natives are getting restless. Excuse me." Rina pasted on a wholly unconvincing smile and quickly retreated, taking both empty cups with her automatically.

She dashed to the relative safety of her galley sanctum and dumped the crockery on the side, not caring about keeping things tidy for once. Her mind was reeling with this sudden change of plans. If this news had come a week or so ago, she would have jumped at the chance to get back planetside and resume her 'normal' routine.

Now though, she was surprisingly unwilling to leave the strange band of misfits she'd become...fond of. If she was completely honest with herself, she might even be more than just fond of some aspects of this situation.

"Ugh." Rina shook off her thoughts and took the pan of cookies out of the oven where they'd been keeping warm. She quickly arranged the batch onto one of the large platters and went back into the mess.

As usual, the tiny redhead was swiftly mobbed by pilots in search of a quick fix of sugar and she silently congratulated herself for not freaking out this time and dropping the cookies like she'd done on more than one occasion of facing down the ravening horde.

Not for the first time, Rina wondered if all rebels, pilots or otherwise, were permanently stuck in adolescence.

The crowd thinned enough for Rina to struggle through to the counter she'd dubbed the 'self-serve' area and she gratefully put the heavy ceramic down.

She flinched when a hand wrapped itself around her shoulder, and another around her waist. Rina glanced to the side and forced herself to relax from the stiff posture she'd instinctively locked up in.

"Doctor. Face. If you both don't let go in the next five seconds I swear I will pull a Squeaky and sabotage your food until I leave."

Both pilots instantly let go and backed off. Ton moved so fast, Rina swore he teleported a good two feet backward.

She quickly sought refuge on the other side of the counter, attempting to clear her head from the additional stress of a sneak attack from her personal tormentors.

"We're proud of you though, aren't we Phanan." Face was grinning smugly as his wingman nodded vaguely as he searched for an empty plate. "You didn't faint, scream, or punch one of us out like last time; so I would say you're definitely improving."

Ton let out a cry of triumph as he found the last clean plate and began to transfer biscuits from the platter with smug satisfaction, "And I must say that I appreciate your control Ree. It was a touch awkward explaining how exactly I got that black eye to Commander Antilles."

"My name is Rina." She correctly automatically; mind still on the realisation that she wasn't wanted here.

She jumped again as Face took her hand and gently rubbed his thumb across her knuckles, "What's wrong Rina? Tell us, we might be able to help."

The cook tried unsuccessfully to tug her hand free from the pilot's grip. "Nothing is wrong." Rina said firmly, ' _Oh I almost believed that.'_ Sneered the judgemental voice in her head.

"Bantha crap." Phanan bluntly muttered through a mouthful of cookie.

Rina blinked in surprise, it wasn't often the usually erudite doctor lapsed into cursing, no matter how mild.

"You get the cutest little wrinkle right there," he gently poked Rina above the bridge of her nose with his free hand, "when you're fretting about something." He smirked, "Gives you away every time."

Mortified, Rina batted them both off of her person. She took a deep breath and conceded defeat. Again. "Fine! If ye two wasnae so persistent, this would be a lot easier." Rina winced as she slipped into full Contruum brogue in her distress. "Janson told me that they're picking up supplies soon, so I'll be leaving ye both soon enough."

Face took a particularly chocolate chip laden cookie from Ton's stash and bit into it, ignoring the indignant cries of outrage. "I thought that you wanted to go home. I mean, you're not technically assigned to us like Cubber and Squeaky are; so you're free to go as you wish."

"I know that. It's just the fact ye are all so...helpless when it comes to looking after yourselves outside of missions. I cannae leave the galley or caf for more than half hour before someone's set sommat on fire or dying from lack of desserts."

She winced again at her lack of control over her hometown accent that reared its head when she let her guard down. Her cousin, uncle, and father had all thoroughly eradicated their own accents. The fact she couldn't was another flaw Rina regularly beat herself up about.

"You know... If you really can't tear yourself away from gorgeous and witty creatures such as us; why don't you ask the Commander if you can stay?" Ton said as he continued to load his plate with cookies.

"Pfft, ye only want me for my baked goods."

"But they are splendid baked goods." He interjected as Face tried to take another one of the cookies he'd stockpiled.

Just in case.

"Maybe I will." Rina mused as the squabbling pair made their way to a free table, still fighting over the remaining chocolate and vanilla confections.

\---000---

After her impromptu heart to heart with her nosy pilots; Rina retreated to her quarters, needing to decide what move to make next.

She flopped down on the stool in front of the basic holoterminal that was just about good enough to play messages and opened the last message she'd received from her father. She sighed as the video began to play again.

Her father, dressed in his diplomatic uniform, slumped in front of the camera. He could be a handsome man when he put some effort into it; but now he slouched and Rina could see the huge bags under his eyes.

Either he wasn't sleeping; or he was drinking again. Neither option was a good one, Rina knew this from painful experience.

"Hey baby girl. It's your Dad. Again. Please answer your messages, I promise I won't even mention that nice young man."

His eyes darted to something off screen and Armitage Hambly sighed. "You know I only want the best for you. I won't be around forever and I need to know you'll be taken care of Princess."

He grinned, "Did I mention that he's legitimately an actual Prince of something? If you did meet him, then I'm completely sure you'd love him and then you could actually be an actual princess!" His voice took on an almost desperate wheedling tone, "C'mon, just tell me where you'll next be making planet fall and I can arrange for either myself, or one of the Prince's entourage to be there to collect you."

He paused and grinned into the camera, "An entourage Sweet Pea. An actual legit entourage!"

Rina's mouth twisted in distaste and she turned off the screen. There'd been another ten minutes of her father alternately wheedling, cajoling, and outright ordering her to marry that mysterious paragon of manly virtues he'd picked out for her. She couldn't bring herself to watch the whole mess again. She did realise how typical it was of her father that not once did he ask how she was, nor actually give her any details on this mysterious prince like a name or even if he was human, or indeed what planet or system he was from.

Despite all of the stress she'd been through with the Wraiths so far; they'd never just presumed that Rina would blindly obey anything.

More than ever Rina wished she'd been able to rescue her string drum from Folor Base; it was times like these that her fingers itched to feel the strings and play endless melodies until the world started to make sense to her again.

There was routine here.

She _liked_ routine.

It made hiding her crazy a lot easier.

"I'll just do like Ton suggested. I'll ask the Commander if I can stay!" Rina groaned and let her head drop onto the keyboard, that was possibly the dumbest thing she'd ever thought of.

Why in the galaxy did she think they'd want to keep an unqualified civilian on what she could tell was rapidly turning into something covert and likely important.

Still...there was no harm in seeing if he was available.

Rina decided to let the universe decide - if the Commander was in his stateroom, she'd ask to stay on. If not, she would meekly go on the transport and see where she ended up.

As she left her room, Rina wasn't even sure which option scared her the most.

A few minutes later, Rina was standing in front of the doors to the suite of rooms that Wedge had essentially been forced to take due to both his rank, and the needs of his team.

Rina had overheard from Cubber that one of the staterooms that had belonged to the previous captain had been turned into a briefing room for missions.

She wondered what it would look like; having never set foot in there before. One of the Wraiths had always been deputised to collect the obligatory caf and pastries for pre-mission briefings.

Before she could lose her nerve entirely, Rina quietly knocked on the door. To her horrified relief, she heard Wedge inside and the door opened.

Her feet, apparently braver than the rest of her, walked her in against her better judgement.

The Commander and Wes were sat at the large briefing table, clearly in the middle of trying to complete some routine paperwork judging by the identical looks of frustration and boredom on their faces. Wedge looked surprised to see the quiet ship's cook hovering nervously just inside the doorway.

He stood and waved at an unoccupied chair, "Miss Hambly, what can I do for you?"

' _Ack! This was not a good idea. Just run now. You could have at least brought caf as a cover!'_ Rina shook off the growing panic with difficulty and stiffly walked over to the table. "Um." She squeaked and inwardly cringed.

"Please sit." Wedge's smile stayed in place, but Wes knew his friend well enough to know the Correllian was concerned. "What can I do for you Rina?"

"I want to stay with the Wraiths!" She blurted, "Um, please?"

Wes bit back a snicker and waited to see what Wedge would do next.

"Can I ask why? We've had numerous requests from your father asking for information on where you are-"

"Don't tell him!" Rina clapped her hand over her mouth in a vain attempt to stifle her panic babble. "I'm legally an adult so there's no edict saying ye have tae tell him where I am. I need to do this for myself; and the sanity of whoever comes to replace me. Please let me try; I'll do anything, even officially join the rebellion if I have to!"

Wedge held up a hand, "I thought you didn't like it here, you've seemed so withdrawn. I thought you'd have leapt at the chance to go home."

Rina sighed and forced herself to look the man in the eye, "If you'd asked me that even a few days ago, I would have been packed and at the airlock in a heartbeat. Now though, I would fight that decision 'til someone threw me onto the shuttle." She glanced away, "I think this is a good fit for me. I'm not the bravest person in the world, but your people seem to bring out the best in me."

Rina fidgeted under Wedge's silent regard before he reached out his hand, making her jump, "Welcome to the madhouse then Rina."

"Really!? Thank you!" The redhead sprang out of the chair and shook Wedge's hand enthusiastically. "Stars above, look at the time; I need to get back to work!" She laughed giddily and almost skipped from the room, leaving behind a stunned silence.

"It's killing you not knowing who she reminds you of isn't it."

"Shut up Wes. You know who it is don't you."

The smug pilot leaned back in the chair, "Yup."

"You're also not going to tell me are you?"

"Nope." He waved a finger at Wedge, "And no peeking at the civilian's files either."

"I'm getting too old for this." Wedge scrubbed a hand over his face, at least keeping her would mean at least one less replacement to find.

"Yub yub Commander!"

\---000---

When the Night Caller jumped into the Doldrums system, Wedge whistled as he saw the two ships waiting for them. One was the familiar transport ship, Borleias, the other was the sleek Mon Cal Cruiser, Home One.

"Admiral Ackbar's command ship. Guess our recent communications struck a nerve."

Wedge greeted the admiral and escorted him to the bridge for debriefing.

As soon as he could, Ton slipped away to find his wingman and possibly some gossip.

He ran into Rina on his way to the lounge area, literally.

"Stars above Ton!"

"Sorry Ree."

"Rina."

He ruffled her hair, "Of course. Now aren't you due to meet some interesting new people?"

"Don't remind me. They're with Wes now for the tour."

Ton cocked his head to one side, listening to Face calling him, the ever-present commlink in his prosthetics was not always a benefit. "Look, Face needs me for something important apparently; but I'll try and drop by to see how you get on okay?"

Rina forced a smile, "You just want to see if the rumours that I've been baking cakes again are true."

"Absolutely." Ton winked and sauntered off.

\---000---

Rina stood and surveyed her domain; finally feeling better now that new supplies had arrived; and possibly more important - three more galley staff. That meant she might have enough time to finally become reacquainted with a full night's sleep!

Rina took a deep breath and prepared herself to meet her new team. Whilst she waited for them to be debriefed by Wes (poor things); she scrolled through their personnel files on her datapad one more time.

She was to remain in charge of the galley by virtue of being there the longest. Rina wasn't entirely sure if that was the best decision Wedge could have made; after all, she didn't have any proper training like her new sous chef.

He was a twi'lek noted down as "Jettison" Fyr. Rina was sure there was an amusing story behind the nickname; there always was with these military types. He certainly had an impressive list of culinary achievements, so she'd soon see if she was being replaced.

Next up were the two kitchen porters, both human like her, the first was an Amaya Sunrider from Tatooine. She looked nice and sensible and about Rina's father's age.

The last was a Jacinto Bastra who looked about her own age or even a bit younger.

Rina groaned, teenage boys were literally the worst thing ever. Not for the first time, Rina wondered what in the name of the Force had made her ask Commander Antilles to let her stay on.

\---000---

Ton leaned against one of the polished metal counters and watched the redhead pacing up and down the small galley floor space.

Where was Face when he needed him? He wasn't all touchy feely or particularly good at being motivational. His role in this Rina thing had never really been defined, not that such wit and superior intellect could be easily defined though.

When her next circuit brought her past him again, he held out a hand and gently grabbed Rina's sleeve. "Bit nervous are we?"

"Force, Ton; I don't know if I can do this!" Rina said miserably, not even trying to pull free from his hold on her arm.

"Then don't."

Rina looked up at the pilot in confusion.

"We are all here for a reason. Sometimes it's because we believe in the cause, some of us have nowhere else to go." Ton smiled a little at her bemused expression. "All of us here are passionate about keeping each other safe. What are you passionate about? I know you use music as a coping method; but I've seen you cooking. You seem so happy when you're mothering us."

Rina went to reply, but Ton clapped his free hand over her mouth, "Ssh. I have a whole motivational speech planned out and I'm going to finish it!"

Rina rolled her eyes, but let him carry on. "In here, you are the boss of it all. Even me and Face; and Force knows we're impossibly annoying and stubborn." Ton shifted his hand to brush a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, "In here you are Wedge Antilles, able to survive anything." The tall pilot smirked, "Although _I_ promise not to throw any dairy products at you."

Rina blushed scarlet, "You are never going to let me live that down are you?"

"Not a chance. Now go out there and collect your new minions...Commander."

Ton spun Rina in the direction of the door and gave her a firm push. "Don't worry, I traded shifts with Donos so I'll be about if you need moral support later."

Rina took a deep breath, squeezed Ton's hand briefly, and stepped out of the kitchen.

A few seconds after the cook left, Face popped his head into the galley, "Did I miss her?"

Ton's satisfied smile dropped a fraction, he'd almost been able to forget the little scene between his wingman and Rina.

It wasn't that he was jealous or anything; he just didn't like the idea of the cavalier pilot setting her therapy back.

That was it.

Nothing weird at all.

\---000---

The big twi'lek sank down onto the end of his bunk in the room he'd been assigned to. His bunk mate was the human teenager, Jayce Bastra, the lanky kitchen porter.

The boy had stayed just long enough to dump his bag on the unoccupied bunk, before freshening up and leaving in search of female targets to flirt with.

Jettison (he had to keep reminding himself that was his name now) had gladly declined the offer to go with him. He had too much to think about.

The twi'lek flopped back and slid his hands under the back of his head, letting his thoughts race on unchecked. She, Rina, wasn't at all like he'd expected. He'd imagined a younger, female version of Caden (or Bael, or Armitage, or whatever name he was going by now).

Rina was most definitely not like him. Okay, so she had his eyes. But that seemed about it.

She'd been quiet, but commanding in a diffident way when she'd shown the three of them around the galley and makeshift canteen she'd set up in one of the unused staterooms off the Nightcaller's simulator/rec room.

He felt a momentary twinge of something uncomfortable at the thought of carrying out the plan. Ro had had no qualms about trading a heartless grifter for his own freedom; but could he screw over an innocent to save his own skin?

Visions of his predecessor's fate and the almost-endless drop from the Boss's window danced through his mind and he shuddered. Of course he could.


	12. New faces, new routines, new upsets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rina experiences the rowdy side of the rebellion and some other interested parties get some intriguing ideas...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last, part 2 is unleashed! 
> 
> Apologies to my poor neglected readers but the boss of real life has been picking on the family the last couple months...but without further excuses - on with the show!

Rina stretched and yawned, wincing as her shoulder cracked loudly.   
It was hard to believe it had been almost a standard week since they had taken on supplies and new recruits from the Mon Remonda and the Borleais. 

So much had happened to her in such a short amount of time; relatively speaking.   
This was main the reason she was still awake at this quite frankly ludicrous hour.   
The other reason was sleeping peacefully in the bed on the opposite side of the stateroom. 

Force knew Amaya seemed...nice but she was just so loud. Not necessarily noisy, but so full of life.   
Although there were enough empty berths for each to have their own; Rina had thought it a good idea to get her team to buddy up to promote teamwork or something. A large part of her was sure that Face had tricked her into agreeing to the idea through some sort of pilot voodoo. 

Rina sighed and gave up on the idea of sleep entirely. She silently slipped out of bed and padded to the small refresher, ' _I suppose I could go and play for a while before starting breakfast.'_

She pulled a face at herself in the mirror as she yanked her brush through her sleep-tangled curls. A small part of her knew how ridiculous it was that she was sneaking off to the hold where the velvet drapes and antiques from the original captain's cabin has been stored, just to play her new string drum that had been nestled in the supplies brought across by Jettison. 

After a quick freshen up, she wiggled into her most comfortable shirt and baggy combat trousers before padding back into the room, grabbing the instrument and sneaking out as quietly as she could. 

Even at this time in the morning, the ship was never truly still. Rina could feel the constant vibration of the engines through the soles of her boots and knew that there would be at least two souls still up on the bridge. 

Still...it was easy to pretend she was the only one on the ship when she got to the lowest level where the others seldom went. 

She pulled out her shiny new toy - an early nameday present from Pash that had been brought on board with the newbies - and began to pick out a few chords.

Rina let her fingers dance over the strings of the instrument, not playing anything in particular, just enjoying the feel of the slick metal and veneered wood beneath her hands.   
Her internal chrono eventually let her know it was time to go and she packed her present away with reluctance. 

Rina scurried back up through the bowels of the corvette and stored the case in her locker in the galley's prep room.   
She was the first one there as usual and hummed to herself as she started the first pot of caf for the day. Rina grabbed a cleaning cloth and bounced out to the bow lounge where most of the pilots and mechanics gravitated to first thing. 

She sang quietly to herself as she scrubbed the tables, so lost in the repetitive task that she actually screamed when someone cleared their throat just behind her.

"Stars above Mr Ekwesh! What are you doing here so early?" 

Runt, he of the massive build and equine features, smiled at the little chef, showing his broad white teeth. "I am sorry to startle you." 

Rina looked up at the brown-furred pilot, who still towered over her, even from his seat at one of the tables she hadn't gotten to yet; feeling her heart rate recovering from a gallop to a more sedate pace.

His liquid brown eyes looked tired, but still full of that essence of kindness that seemed intrinsic to him.   
"I didn't realise you hadn't seen me."

Rina fluttered around the room, absently polishing the nearest table, "Um...I was just getting the caf ready for the morning rush. You look like you could use a cup." She blushed and babbled, "Not that I'm saying you look haggard or anything! I- uh."

Runt laughed loudly, "I think you are right." He gestured at the stack of flimsies piled on the desk, "I think I have finished these letters at last and Face is never late for your pancakes."

Despite her urge to flee, Rina couldn't help but ask, "Letters?"

Runt nodded, sending his waist-length ponytail swishing behind him. "To keep up our ruse of this vessel still being under Imperial orders, I have been tasked with answering any of the former crew's letters."

Rina edged closer, peering down at the top sheet of notes. "So why you? If you don't mind me asking?"

"I am not sure if you know much about my species?" Runt asked.   
Rina shrugged and waggled her hand back and forth in a seesawing motion, "Just what I've overheard from random conversations over dinners."

"My species have many minds. Each has its own personalities and strengths and weaknesses. I haven't been able to control them very well; but Kell is helping me and we think this is good practice for me to switch minds."

Rina sat down beside him, both chores and breakfast forgotten, "That's amazing. Do you know how many you have?"

Runt nodded, "We get more as we grow and gain more experience. This is a somewhat tedious task; but it has taught me how to switch from one dominant mind to another faster than I could before." He gathered up his papers and began to sort them into stacks. "It is nice to master something new. It has also been nice to finally speak to you Miss Hambly." Runt grinned again, "I think you need to find peace with your own minds. Just like Kell does."

Rina pursed her lips thoughtfully as Runt shuffled off in search of more caf. She supposed he may have a point; since their numbers had been significantly boosted by the new recruits the big pilot _had_  seemed more agitated at times than she would have expected from anyone other than her. Especially around Mr Janson. 

Mind you, that could just be a case of very sensible wariness around the constant prankster.   
She absently wiped a few more tables and mused whether another batch of sand cakes would net her some gossip from her boys.

\---000---

The next night, Rina was the last out of the galley, having insisted on the last shift to minimise the length of time she was cooped up in her rooms.

She felt a little guilty for not trying harder with her new team, but there were so many of them!

Jayce, the redheaded teenager from Coruscant, was just as boisterous as she had feared and she knew it was only a matter of time before he too suffered the wrath of Squeaky.

Amaya was nice too. Just more lively than she had expected the older woman to be. Rina paused and shuddered as she remembered the incredibly compromising position she'd walked into when she forgot she shared a room briefly. Personally she didn't know whether to be horrified or impressed at how flexible both Amaya and Mr Daine must be to wind up-   
_'Nope. Not thinking about that again.'_ Face had been most amused at the reason his young apprentice was late to one of their many training (torture) sessions. 

With her galley restored to a pre-team state of organisation, Rina finally felt comfortable enough to head out. 

She wondered what to do with herself; Face and Ton had a training session in the newly-installed X-Wing simulators and she knew how much Ton was looking forward to getting his replacement snubfighter, so she ruled out disturbing them. 

Amaya and her gentleman friend were likely entertaining themselves, so she couldn't even go and get her string drum.   
Usually she'd have been so exhausted from running around all day, she'd just sleep whenever she got the opportunity.   
' _And a little part of you misses it.'_

"Oh shush." She told her inner voice as she mooched into the forward lounge Squeaky was slowly turning into a miniature replica of DownTime. 

"We are sorry."

Rina yelped and jumped, tripping over one of the overstuffed couches. She hadn't expected any of the crew to be up this late and had thought to have the room to herself for a few moments.   
"Oh dear." She muttered and gratefully took the helping hand of Runt.   
"I didn't expect to see anyone here." She explained, avoiding eye contact as she brushed herself down. "Are you writing letters again Mr Ekwesh?"

Runt steadied the cook and shook his head, "Not tonight. I couldn't sleep as I have a lot on my mind."

Rina hopped up onto the arm of the stealth ambushing sofa, "Which one?"

Runt snorted in amusement, "Very good! I'm worried about my wingman. He and some of the others are pushing themselves harder than I think they need to."

Rina swung her legs, being so short they didn't touch the floor, and nodded thoughtfully, "Mr Tainer is your wingman right?" When Runt nodded, she carried on, half-musing aloud, "I bet the others are Tyria and Falynn right?"

Runt blinked, "Yes they are, how-"

Rina smiled, a little smug, "I have eyes Mr Ekwesh. Besides, there's nothing like unrequited love or overwork to kill a body's appetite." 

She laughed uneasily as she realised that she felt completely comfortable for the first time talking to someone she'd only briefly exchanged maybe a handful of words with.

Perhaps she owed Face those sunfruit tartlets after all.

\---000---

Rina felt curiously light-headed at lunch service the following day; she didn't know what it was, but she even offered to take the first shift of clearing up. 

Jayce jumped at the chance to abandon the chore and pester Jettison into letting him help with the 'real cooking'. 

"You're the best boss!" He said as he tossed the damp dishcloth at Rina.   
' _It's kinda endearing how he's such a pest.'_ She thought as she heard Jett sigh loudly and theatrically.

He reminded her of Pash when they were younger and times had been better. 

She managed a smile and congratulated herself on not shaking too much when he had hugged her on the way past.   
_'I guess I definitely owe Face this time.'_

Rina shook her head ruefully and went out into the mini mess hall she was gradually claiming as her own space.  
Her green eyes automatically sought out her two beacons of safety as it was a full house today - all of the pilots, engineers and off duty support staff had descended on the mess once word got out it was the last fresh menu until they next restocked at Nightcaller's next landfall. 

Face was in one corner, no doubt verbally seducing those poor bridge crew ladies.

Ton was unsurprisingly hovering around Tyria (as usual). It was sort of sweet the single-minded dedication both he and Kell put into wooing the blonde pilot. 

' _It'd be nice to know what that's like...'_

Rina blinked in surprise, not entirely sure where in the galaxy _that_ thought had come from.

Shaking her head, sternly ignoring the disquieting feeling in her chest, Rina began to collect the empty trays of plates. She waved away the offers of help from some of the pilots and mechanics; not wanting to let any more people into her sanctuary. 

Rina was so focussed on her task that she almost missed it. 

There was a kerfuffle from Ton's corner of the mess hall and Rina dropped the metal tray in shock.   
_Tyria_  had jumped up and was laying into Grinder with brutal efficiency.

Rina, a pacifist by nature, was horrified at the rush of blood matting the bothan's white fur. 

Clearly the pilot's actions had shocked the others as it took a few endless moments for Kell and Ton to pull the blonde off Grinder.   
A handful of the technicians had started to lay wagers once Grinder staggered to his feet.

"You want me? A fair fight, not an ambush? Bring her to the lounge boys-"

"Attention!"

They all snapped upright, mechanics included and Rina yelped when the stern order came from beside her. 

A grim-faced Wedge and Wes were standing at the door to the mess and Rina had to quell the urge to flee when all eyes trained on the doorway and by default, the cook who hasn't managed to get back into the galley in time. 

Wedge strode into the mess hall, Janson a step behind. "Explain this." Wedge said. 

Rina knew she should get to tidying up the mess from she had dropped the trays, but found herself frozen in place, thrall to a horrified fascination. 

Tyria didn't respond, she was still catching her breath. 

Phanan jumped in, "Well, sir, we were discussing some points of a specific hand-to-hand combat takedown manoeuvre and-"

Rina could almost sense the waves of irritated frustration rolling off the Commander.

"Flight Officer Phanan. How many times do you suppose I've heard that 'We were discussing a boxing manoeuvre' excuse?"

"I, uh, don't know sir." Ton said, looking confused. 

"That was a rhetorical question Phanan. Do not reenter this conversation."

The pilot gulped and stood even more to attention. 

Tyria and Grinder obediently trooped out of the mess behind Wedge and Wes.   
Rina whimpered and finally fled to the kitchen.

"What happened!?" Jayce demanded the instant Rina barrelled through the door. 

"I-I I'm.."

"Leave her alone Bastra." Jettison growled and easily manhandled the teenager out of the way.   
The twi'lek had to bend down significantly to look the girl in the eye, but he did. There was just enough room on her shoulder to fit most of his hand, "You okay boss?"  
Rina nodded. 

"But what happened?" Jayce whined. 

Jettison shut his eyes and huffed quietly, "Pretty sure there's dishes back there you're supposed to be scrubbing Bastra."

Rina remembered the mess she'd accidentally made and darted to the shelf where Jayce had abandoned the cleaning supplies earlier. 

"I'll be right back!"

She scurried out, back into the aftermath of the fight. Thankfully everyone was still too distracted to really notice her at all.   
_'Why in the worlds would Tyria do something like that to the poor man?'_ Rina wondered as she scrubbed the floor. 

It was far too upsetting to think about too closely. Especially when she noticed a few spatters of blood on the durasteel.

"Hey."

Rina jumped and looked up to see Ton perched on the edge of the table beside her.   
"Hello Ton." 

The medic smiled wanly, "I feel almost like I should be making an innuendo-laden comment about you being on your knees or something."

Rina blushed and shot to her feet. "Don't ye dare!" She dropped the cleaning cloth into the bucket and crossed her arms, trying to look stern despite the burning blush she felt staining her cheeks.

She could tell his heart wasn't really in his teasing though; it was habit now more than anything.   
"What's bothering you Dr Phanan?"

"I'm not really sure."

Rina wiped her hands on her apron, "You're worried about Miss Tryia right? So don't sit here moping; go with Kell and make sure she's okay." 

At the mention of his rival for the fair Tyria's affection, the slender medic perked up. "Of course. What better way to earn her gratitude than being there in her time of need!"

He stood, patted Rina on the head and rushed to catch up to Tainer. 

From his spot in the corner, Face watched his young protege's expression of confused disappointment with interest.

\---000---

Ro was beginning to realise that he was starting to fret. He wasn't entirely sure his insane plan to get hold of Hambly's daughter for ransom was actually possible.   
His elusive boss was either cooking, with her two pilot bodyguards, or shut up in her room.

He ignored the constant chattering of the human teenager beside him as he tried to plan just how in the universe he was going to do this.   
Whatever he tried so far hadn't panned out. 

She was the complete opposite of her father for sure. Ro sometimes wasn't even sure he'd found the right girl. 

Rina was a tiny, nervous little thing.   
' _Mind you, if I'd had to live with Hambly and his habits, I'd probably be a little nutty too._ '

The twi'lek finished locking down the kitchen and resolutely ignored the uncomfortable fact that maybe he **was** just a little mad himself.


End file.
